This invention relates to portable enclosures, and particularly to portable enclosures which may be towed to remote construction sites for use as storage buildings or workshops. The portable enclosure is effectively collapsible for towing purposes, but may be opened to become such as a storage building or workshop at a remote construction site due to the presence of a plurality of articulable frames which are mounted to and swing away from the towable boom.
There are many remote construction sites scattered throughout the world. Some may be several kilometers or several hundred kilometers from cities or towns, such as construction sites for supporting the construction of energy transmission lines such as electricity power lines, gas and oil pipe lines, and the like. Other construction sites are further remote, at mine sites, where the head works for a mine may be under construction, or where defence installations are being constructed, at hydro electric construction sites, and the like.
Most such construction sites are accessible, at least in part, by road, or over frozen tundra or ice, whereby wheeled or tracked vehicles may come to those sites. What is common at such sites, however, is that they typically will have a variety of earth moving equipment, other heavy construction equipment, construction supplies, and the like. What is also common in such remote construction sites is that they are temporary in their nature. They might exist at a particular location for several months, or perhaps even several years, but not for lengthy periods of time.
Also, at such construction sites, there is not only the necessity to store construction materials, and protect them from the elements in some respect or other, there is also a necessity to protect heavy earth moving and other technical equipment from the elements especially when they are being repaired. It is very costly for construction equipment to be out of service; but it is sometimes not possible to repair or maintain equipment without the equipment being sheltered in one way or another.
For example, at construction sites in the far north, typically work is carried on during whatever daylight hours there may be, and repair and maintenance is carried on during darkness hours. However, since such locations may be very cold, and typically the mechanics and other workers who repair and maintain such equipment wear light clothing and gloves, they require shelter.
A typical shelter, previously, could be such as a shed or hut having aluminum or coated steel skin on the outside, or it could be such as a tent.
However, portable huts and the like require substantial ground preparation, the placement of footings, and the require erection at the site. That requirement, in itself, may take a team of construction workers a number of days or weeks, before any actual construction work can begin at the construction site.
If tents are used, they are typically quite small; or if they are large, they require the use of centre poles, and therefore have limited free span width for location of large and heavy equipment such as earth moving equipment and the like.
Of course, it is well known to heat such enclosures with gas powered heaters, and the workers who work within such enclosures are accustomed to the hardships otherwise of such conditions.
The present invention overcomes the difficulties described above by providing a portable enclosure which may be towed to a construction site and erected at the site by actuation of a plurality of operating cylindersxe2x80x94typically, hydraulic cylinders. Thus, portable enclosures in keeping with the present invention may be towed on public highways and roads for as far as possible, and then over temporary roads or the like up to the construction site. The portable enclosure may then be erected in a manner of, five to thirty minutes. Furthermore, only one single worker is required to erect and collapse the portable enclosure, making operation of the portable enclosure a much more labour cost effective task than the building of portable huts or tents which typically requires a team of construction workers. Thus, the economies of the use portable enclosures in keeping with the present invention, even if they require higher capital costs initially, can be well understood and appreciated.
Obviously, and as will be described in greater detail hereafter, once a portable enclosure in keeping with the present invention is erected, it provides ample free span width to accommodate earth moving equipment and the like; and the portable enclosure may be clad with tarpaulin or other web-like fabric which can be completely closed, whereby a warm enclosure may be provided within a minimum period of time.
Typically, portable enclosures in keeping with the present invention may be adjusted as to their height and width, after they have been otherwise erected by actuation of their articulable frame members, as described hereafter. Thus, the specific requirements at one remote construction site may differ from those at another remote construction site, and yet the same portable enclosure may be used at both.
A number of patents which describe various kinds of portable or temporary structures for stages of other modular buildings, and the like, are known to the inventor herein. They included the following:
French Patent 802,239 issued Jun. 6, 1936 teaches a portable shelter or hangar that is intended for use to protect small airplanes. The portable hangar is provided in two parts, each of which comprises a plurality of wedged shape panels which are articulated and spread away from a centrally located mast.
Published British Patent Specification 1,367,064, published Sep. 18, 1974, relates to a collapsible garage which has a main frame covered with canvas, together with a plurality of arched members which are hinged to a pair of spaced apart base members. The arched members open much like a so-called Japanese fan.
Beckman U.S. Pat. No. 1,765,295, issued Jun. 17, 1930, relates to a tractor boom crane which can be mounted on a tractor such as a farm tractor, and opened out so as to be used otherwise as a hoist by being supported at its outer end.
A portable garage is taught in Stout U.S. Pat. No. 2,155,876, issued Apr. 25, 1939. Its principal feature is to provide a foldout shelter at each side of a towable building.
Another mobile building structure is taught in Sickel U.S. Pat. No. 2,755,517, issued Jul. 24, 1956. The purpose here is to provide such as an exhibition or sales structure that may be carried from time to time at exhibitions, conferences, auxiliary hospitals, and the like. The structure, once built, surrounds a centre post, and thus has limited free span.
A portable stage which may be carried to the site where it is to be used for an outdoor performance or the like, by being towed on a trailer is taught in Analetto U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,076, issued May 31, 1977. The stage is towed into place by being placed length wise of the trailer, and is then erected by first turning a turntable and then maneuvering a plurality of joists into place, after which a floor is constructed across the joists.
Gibbs U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,926, issued Sep. 6, 1977, teaches a roof structure for modular buildings which, again, may towed lengthwise on a trailer and then constructed into place by being put over a pair of spaced supports.
Another portable stage is taught in Hanley U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,488, issued Nov. 11, 1980. Once again, an articulated stage is towed into placed and then opened by being folded out from a central supporting structure.
Another structure having a supported floor which is transportable on the road but which is convertible for use as a stage or tribune is taught in Jonckheere U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,485, issued Dec. 11, 1990. This structure, as many others which relate to portable stages and the like, does not provide any shelter, but merely provides a surface on which a performance or other ceremony or activity can occur after the portable stage has been erected.
Yet another portable performance platform is taught in Boers U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,109, issued Oct. 6, 1992. Once again, an articulated upper surface is provided; and in this case also a lower surface, so that the stage or performance platform is sheltered.
Another mobile erectable stage and sound shell is taught in Uhl U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,698, issued Jul. 12, 1994. This patent again teaches a stage which can be towed on a trailer from one location to another, and is provided with a boom assembly to erect the stage by raising at least one sidewall panel and the interconnected roof panel. Nonetheless, the structure is a stage having specific structure which contains reversible acoustic panels, whereby stage performers can elect to use microphones, or not.
A transportable foldable building, and a method for erecting the same, is taught in Smith U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,832, issued Oct. 31, 1995. Here, a platform is supported in vertically spaced relation above a towable foundation, and then first and second outer roof sections are pivotally attached. Assembly of the foldable building is time consuming and expensive.
Murphy U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,593, issued Oct. 5, 1999, teaches a collapsible building which, again, may be towed into place. Here, however, a plurality of ground engaging support legs are put into place, and then a collapsible floor which has a number of hinged panels that collapse onto a chassis, followed by placement of a folding roof.
Loomans U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,059, issued Jul. 4, 2000, teaches a concrete construction system which uses articulated forms. A structure which is towable into place is not, per se, revealed in this patent.
Contrary to the above, the present inventor has quite unexpectedly discovered that an erectable structure can be provided, which is based on, and folded or articulated away from, a towable boom. The boom forms an integral part of the structure at one side thereof; and when the portable enclosure is erected a free span interior for the structure is provided into which construction equipment and the like may be placed for repair and maintenance work, or construction materials may be placed for storage, and so on.
To that end, therefore, the present invention provides a portable enclosure for temporary shelter purposes as a storage building or workshop at remote construction sites. The portable enclosure comprises a towable boom and a plurality of articulable frames mounted thereon.
The towable boom has coupling means at a first end for coupling to a towing tractor, and it has wheels at a remote second end so that the towable boom may be towed over roads and worksite terrain to the construction site at which it will be placed.
The plurality of articulable frames each comprises at least a first frame member, a second frame member, a third frame member, and a fourth frame member.
There is also a plurality of fluid operated extendable cylinders mounted on each articulable frame.
A first cylinder is mounted between the boom and the first frame member of each articulable frame, so as to adjust the angular disposition of the first frame member with respect to the boom.
A second cylinder is mounted between the second and third frame members of each articulable frame so as to adjust the angular disposition thereof with respect to each other.
Each of the first cylinders operates to move its respective first frame member, from a first, tilted position with respect to the boom, to a second, substantially vertical orientation.
Each of the second cylinders operates to move its respective second and third frame members from a first position whereat an acute angle is formed between the second and third frame members, to a second position whereat the angle formed between the second and third frame members is greater than the first position angle.
Each of the fourth frame members of each articulated frame is articulated to its respective third frame member so as to depend in a downwardly direction from the end thereof which is remote from its connection to the respective second frame member. Thus, the fourth frame member will assume a substantially vertical orientation when the second and third frame members have assumed their respective second positions.
Accordingly, each of the respective first and fourth frame members of each frame is articulable to a substantially vertical orientation, and they are thus capable of being horizontally distanced one from the other so as to constitute a storage or workshop space therebetween.
Typically, a web-like fabric material is spread between adjacent frame members and is secured thereto. Thus, rigid panels are not employed to enclose the interior volume of the portable enclosure.
The frame member of each frame may be extensible, and if so there is a third cylinder which is mounted thereon so as to cause an extending action of that fourth frame member.
Also, a wheel may be mounted at the bottom of each fourth frame member. Thus, the horizontal spacing between the respective first and fourth frame members of each frame may be adjusted while maintaining a substantially vertical orientation of the first and fourth frame members. That adjustment, as will be understood hereafter, is of the fourth frame member toward or away from the first frame member, which it will be recalled is mounted to the boom.
The towable boom may, itself, be extensible. If so, it has at least first and second boom portions. The wheels are mounted at the remote end of the second boom portion, and at least one articulable frame member may be mounted on each of the first and second boom portions.
Typically, each of the first, second, and third frame members of each respective articulable frame is extensible. Thus, its length may be extended from a first, closed position, to a second, extended position. Accordingly, the width and height measurements of an enclosure when the first and fourth frame members have assumed their vertical orientations, may be adjusted.
Moreover, in such circumstances, each of the first, second, and third frame members comprises first and second frame member portions, and each includes a respective, internally mounted, fluid operated extendable cylinder. Thus, the respective first and second frame member portions of each frame member may be extended one from the other.
Typically, each of the fluid operated extendable cylinders is hydraulic, but other fluid operated extendable cylinders such as compressed air or pneumatic cylinders, air over oil, and so on, may be employed.
A fourth cylinder may be mounted between the third and fourth frame members so as to adjust the angular disposition thereof, with respect to each other.
Otherwise, the fourth frame member of each articulable frame may be freely articulated to its respective third frame member.
Each wheel may be articulated to its respective fourth frame member so as to be swung vertically away from the bottom of the respective fourth frame member when the fourth frame member is in its first position.
Typically, the angle between the second and third frame members of each of the articulable frames, when in their respective second positions, is greater than 90xc2x0.